In Ron Howard’s care, Han Solo’s spin­off imp­ish­ly sub­merges the Star Wars fan in the sta­ple ori­gin of the reluc­tant hero’s rudi­men­ta­ry and tire­some life­long inner con­flict among a steady unsub­tle spat­ter­ing of jokes at the the­mat­ic expense of the indi­vid­ual rights, dig­ni­ty, and voli­tion of the oppressed.

Bri­an Taylor’s 83 min­utes of gross sub­ur­ban parental ter­ror and hilar­i­ty per­forms every func­tion you could pos­si­bly ask of such a film, com­bin­ing excel­lent atten­tion to detail with a refresh­ing­ly inven­tive use of sound.